Woman says Avalanche star Semyon Varlamov laughed while he beat her

By Sadie GurmanThe Denver Post

Posted:
10/31/2013 04:39:11 PM MDT

The woman accusing Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov of assault and kidnapping said he had been drinking for more than 12 hours before he returned to the downtown Denver apartment they shared and began kicking and beating her.

"He was having fun, he was laughing," Evgeniya Vavrinyuk, 24, said Thursday.

"He has no concept of when to stop drinking, and when he drinks he turns into an animal," said Vavrinyuk, a Russian native who spoke to reporters through an interpreter.

Evgeniya Vavrinyuk speaks during a news conference through an interpreter about the alleged abuse from her boyfriend, Semyon Varlamov, starting goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche, October 31, 2013. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

Vavrinyuk said the goalie, whom she has been dating for a year, kicked her in the chest, stomped on her while she lay on the ground and dragged her by her hair from their bedroom early Monday. She pointed to her chest, arms, stomach, neck and head — places she said she are bruised. She also said he kicked her out of the apartment.

Varlamov, 25, posted $5,000 bond Thursday and was released from the Downtown Denver Detention Center facing charges of second-degree kidnapping and third-degree assault. His agent denied the charges and said he is "innocent."

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Vavrinyuk said the incident happened about 6 a.m. Monday, and she decided to call police. It wasn't the first time he had hurt her, she said, but throwing her out on the street was "the final straw."

"She wants to make sure he is punished for this," Vavrinyuk said through Diana Senova, an interpreter and the fiancee of her attorney, Robert Abrams. "(Varlamov) is very arrogant and thinks he can get away with anything, that he can beat her up and no one will ever know about it."

She said her boyfriend had beat her at least four times before in other countries where the police seemed to look the other way. But she remained in her relationship with Varlamov, hopeful that he could change, as she loved him and hoped to have children with him. She said she broke a modeling contract in Hong Kong so she could come to Denver to be with him "because he asked her to," Senova said.

But when they started living together in the sprawling Glass House apartments at 1700 Bassett St., she noticed a darker side.

"She found out he not only had a violence problem, but also a drinking problem," Senova said.

Now, she's fearful to return to Russia, where she said Varlamov fans have sent threatening messages to her and her mother. She wants fans in Denver "to know who he really is.

"When she sees fans shouting his name ... she wants to make sure they know his real face," Senova said.